Bullet Found Inside Skull, Yet Death Certificate Said 'Cardiac Arrest': Doctor Relieved in Magura Amid Negligence Allegations

Shaker Hossain, 39, joint convener of Magura municipal Jubo Dal, died after being shot, yet the emergency department doctor at the hospital certified his death as caused by cardiac arrest — the stopping of heart function. Only when an autopsy recovered a bullet from inside his skull did the real story emerge. The doctor has now been temporarily relieved of all hospital duties amid allegations of negligence.

Shaker Hossain was shot at Magura central bus terminal at dawn last Wednesday. He was then taken to the 250-bed Magura Sadar Hospital. There, emergency department doctor Khandaker Mainul Hasan issued a certificate saying he had died as his heart had stopped functioning.

After learning of the death from the doctor, relatives took Shaker's body home. While preparing to bathe the body, family members noticed a hole at the back of his head. That hole raised the first suspicion that the death had not been natural.

When the matter was reported to police, the body was taken back to the hospital and an autopsy was arranged. After the autopsy, emergency department doctor Krishna Das Biswas reported that a bullet had been recovered from inside the deceased's skull. Only then did it emerge that Shaker's death was a killing by gunfire.

The doctor's role came into question over the failure to initially identify the real cause of death. The deceased's relatives complained to the hospital authorities, alleging negligence against doctor Khandaker Mainul Hasan.

Following that complaint, he was temporarily relieved of all hospital activities. Mohsin Uddin Fakir, superintendent of the 250-bed Magura Sadar Hospital, said emergency doctor Mainul Hasan had been temporarily relieved for failing to correctly identify the real cause of Jubo Dal leader Shaker Hossain's death, and that an investigation committee would be formed over the incident.

The deceased Shaker Hossain was joint convener of Magura municipal Jubo Dal. Alongside politics, he worked as a counter master for Royal Express Paribahan. His workplace was at the central bus terminal area itself, and it was there that he was shot at dawn on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, Shaker's wife Sharmin Nahar Ruma filed a murder case at Magura Sadar Police Station as complainant, accusing unidentified persons. Identifying who fired the shot is now the main task of the investigation.

The biggest question raised by the incident is how the injury of a patient shot in the head could go undetected in the emergency department and how a cardiac arrest certificate came to be issued. Relatives say that had the family not noticed the hole while bathing the body at home, the killing might have remained hidden altogether.

Those concerned see the temporary relief of the doctor as an initial step. What comes next will depend on the report of the investigation committee, once formed, and on how far the negligence allegation is proven.

On one side runs the murder investigation; on the other, preparations for an inquiry inside the hospital into the doctor's role. The outcomes of both investigations are now awaited by Shaker Hossain's family and the people of Magura.